Ok I will talk to the shop owner and see about a $30 entry fee (shouldnt be an issue). It will be on a Saturday with maybe a smaller tournament on Sunday if people plan on getting a hotel (for two chances to make it worth the drive). Also I will make sure to give everyone a good heads up (likely around 2 months). There isnt much of a local scene so we need all the people we can get from the surrounding area.

My local shop got in a Mox Ruby and is interested in holding a Vintage tournament near the Fort Wayne area. I know there are a lot of players from Ohio, some from Michigan and a Chicago crew so I wanted to know if you would be interested in traveling. Would be shooting for about 30 players, there isnt much of a local crew and there would be good prize support for the Top 8 (all top 8 prizes would be worth $50+). It would be a proxy event (10-15) so some local people would play, I believe $45 entry fee and all entry fee's will be put towards the prize support (if 30+ people show up we would also do events more regularly). Would like to schedule it when there isn't other tournaments running in the Midwest so everyone who wants to play can make it.

I am very happy to see GAT back, congrats on the win Steve and I really hope the DCI doesn't kill one of your favorite decks again! Now it's time for everyone to start packing Blood Moon effects in their SB

Dartkblast can be used to kill 2 toughness creatures as well you just have to hit them during your upkeep and then Dredge it back during your draw step and shoot the dude again. Darkblast is nice because it takes care of every Dark Confidant or other 1 toughness creatures your opponent might play in the long run and honestly I think it should see a lot more play in the format then it gets.

I like the idea of Ghost Quarter and I am really wondering if the meta is coming to a point where Ghost Quarter is playable.

Mishra's Factory seems like it could be good since you can block and trade it with Lodestone Golem, is a beat Jace can't bounce and it doesn't activate Oath.

I actually think Jace 2.0 is being overlooked a bit and I expect to see him in more decks over time. Not only is he cheaper then Tezzeret and better in a control mirror he also generally buys you a couple of turns against an aggro deck. He plays really well with top deck tutors, doesn't drain your life or force you to use Divining Top like Dark Confidant. Basically I look at the new Jace as a souped up Ophidian. He draws on the same turn Ophidian would draw on, lets you dig 3 deep, doesn't die from creature removal and has a bunch of additional abilities. I think something like BBS or UR "phid" could be viable again with Jace in place of Ophidian. I've done some playtesting with him and I have been very shocked at how much better then Ophidian he has been for me. I think he has a lot of future potential in the format but with the way Vintage evolves Jace 2.0 may never get the play it deserves to see.

Trinisphere is restricted, Mindbreak Trap isn't... I think that your comparison is kinda unfair because it's not every game that 3sphere will be in your opening hand or easily tutorable.

I think Lotus Cobra is playable (but not in Meandeck beats) and may find a home in Vintage but it won't be an all star bomb like it will be in some other formats.

Also with the addition or Ravenous Trap, Mindbreak Trap and Spell Pierce mono-blue control just be viable again (or with a small splash so you can potentially hard cast Ravenous Trap).

Iona, Shield of Emeria
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
As Iona, Shield of Emeria enters the battlefield, choose a color.
Opponents can't play spells of the chosen color.
7/7

I think this would be very strong in Oath however it's not as good as Hellkite Overlord in a few match ups but in other ones the ability is pretty back breaking.

Totally an insane play Great finals! I am glad that I got to watch it, the coverage was excellent (save for that painful break before the final round)!

Then why not make reprint power part of the Player Rewards program? It encourages Vintage players to play more sanctioned events, doesn't conflict with the reserve list since they are promos and will also drive up interest in the program with people who do not play Vintage since it gives them valuable cards to sell.

No those decks are still playable in a format with Brainstorm being restricted just not top tier and they will just have to be decks that serve as role players when the meta is right for them to shine.

I would much rather have Flash unrestricted because it would add another deck to the format unlike Brainstorm which just improves already existing decks. In fact of the cards I listed Brainstorm is near the bottom of the cards I want to see unrestricted but it and Fact or Fiction are the only ones I would play multiples of. Anyhow I will be playing as soon as I get a deck list or two together and I will post my AIM SN when I am ready to play some matches.

I have a friend who wants to open up a shop in South Bend and I was wondering if people would be interested in attending Vintage tournaments in that area. I also have a friend with a shop just outside of Fort Wayne (in Huntington, IN) and I would like to start hosting tournaments at in the near future if the community is interested in traveling to these locations. They will be proxy events (5-10) and may include CE cards, I would like to discuss possible prize structures and find out what the community is most interested in and there might be some wacky side events as well (2HG Vintage tournaments mayhaps?).

I really think something like this needs to be tested with a ton of card unrestricted and then working to a smaller list if things prove broken. I would suggest unrestricting these cards:

Brainstorm
Burning Wish
Fact or Fiction
Flash
Frantic Search
Gifts Ungiven
Gush
Library of Alexandria
Ponder
Regrowth
Thirst for Knowledge
Trinisphere

Honestly the only cards I am worried about on this list are Frantic Search and Regrowth however the decks I am worried about them in may be kept in check by Trinistax. Several of these cards were restricted because of the DCI's failure to recognize Merchant Scroll as problematic and with Merchant Scroll now restricted they are probably safe to let loose. I believe these changes would make Control Slaver, BBS, Flash, Grow and maybe Gifts playable again without really pushing any decks out of the current meta. If the list you decide upon ends up very similar to that then I will probably test this format because I intend writing an article suggestion the unrestricting of all those cards at once (I feel that is the only way it would balance out properly) so experience in a format like that would help with my vision.

I agree with all 3 points however I feel there is a lot more that can and needs to be done to revive Vintage.

1. Expand the community: while this website is great for the established vintage player it is just a niche website. There needs to be an active push from the community to promote Vintage discussion on other MTG forums most notably the official forums and MTGSalvation.

2. Better tournament locations: The ICBM Xtreme Open this weekend is located just north of Chicago which is an extremely inconvenient place to travel to for all the Indiana/Ohio/Kentucky Vintage players. If however the person hosting the event found a place in South Bend to host it not only would it be a lot easier for players to attend but it wouldn't really impact the Chicago players because they could just as easily take the train into South Bend.

3. More tournaments: There needs to be cheaper local tournaments that can attract non-vintage players and there need to be more locations for people to play at. I am entertaining the idea of hosting tournaments in the general Fort Wayne Indiana area and I hope there will be people interested since I think it is a fairly accessible location for the Vintage community.

4. More free articles: This isn't a stab at you Steve, what you do is a great service to the community but we need more active voices to draw attention to the format. I have a few articles in mind but unfortunately the front page of my website went down and the owner of the site is too busy to fix it (and I doubt it will ever get fixed) I will be starting my own website up soon that while it won't be exclusively MTG focused I will write Vintage and Multiplayer articles for the front page.

Stuff Wizards needs to do to revive the format:

1. Clean up the Restricted list: I know lots of players who were seriously starting to get into Vintage before Merchant Scroll and friends got restricted and those changes ruined the fun of the format for them. I can count 11 cards on the Restricted list that I think could safely go but the problem is a lot of them are not safe to come off by themselves without another card or two coming off the list to balance it so I think WotC will always screw this up unless the communtiy comes together and makes a list we can all agree upon and heavily pressure WotC to implement it. Granted we would probably need to expand the community and hold regularly sanctioned tournaments (I am thinking smaller local sanctioned tournaments with cheaper entry fees and smaller prize payouts) for WotC to take us seriously but I feel this is something worth trying.

2. Reprint hard to get cards: I know people who would get into Vintage if Mana Drain was reprinted which is not on the reserve list *crosses fingers for it to be included in FTV: Exiled* and the cards on the Reserve list can be printed as DCI foils which would increase the amount of playable cards in the format. What I want to see is sanctioned Legacy events starting to give out foil dual lands as prizes and sanctioned Vintage events giving out foil power/bazaars/workshops as prizes. This would draw people to sanctioned events outside of the non-sanctioned events we currently run and I am sure TONS of new players will play to have a chance at those types of foils (I think it would be neat to have the foil Timetwister as a random prize as well).

3. Power level errata: I am sure some new decks would be created if Waylay, Abeyance, Transmute Artifact, Zodiac Dragon and friends worked like they are worded and new decks could attract new players because they could potentially find a deck that interests them. Plus it would help out White and lord knows White needs all the help it can get. Also the Wishes need to be fixed so that they retrieve cards from the exile zone and we REALLY need to push hard for this errata to happen.

4. Print a set that is Vintage/Legacy/Casual only: It is pretty certain that a third Un set is coming out, if they can print non-tournament legal stuff like that and expect to make some profit then a set that was focused on Eternal formats would probably do a lot better. Imagine a large expansion that takes the current color pie and additions to the game and focus it on high level play. I would like to see a Time Spiral style double rare sheet with the extra sheet of rares being all old dead planeswalkers (since this is focused on the older formats you wouldn't have to hold back their power level as much), the mythics being legends that were deemed to powerful to print like Yawgmoth and Gix, cards color shifted into their proper color like Dark Ritual and Sinkhole into Red and also trying to do different stuff with blue like printing a sorcery speed card draw spell we would actually be interested in playing and a good 3 cc counter. Also opposing color fetch lands would be awesome if they have no plans to ever print them in standard due to power level concerns.

Anyhow that is a lot of stuff and I plan on expanding on some of those ideas in articles one day...

Vault/Key really doesn't seem any worse to me then Flash/Ichorid/Gifts in fact it is generally slower then those decks and at Sorcery speed. Just like any big deck in Vintage it is likely a fad that will pass as the meta adjusts to it, granted I think part of the problem is all the restricted cards limiting deck options. I believe there is 9 possibly 10 cards that can come off the restricted list and it would improve the environment, not make it more degenerative.

Anyhow the general consensus seems to be that the Reserve List needs to go am I correct? If so then I think we should try to do something about it, maybe a petition? We could hit all the magic forums on the net and see if there is a very large percentage of players that would be happy if the reserve list was abolished so power/duals/etc. can be reprinted.

Perhaps, the land count would certainly have to go up and maybe 4 is not the right number. I will be testing it, I play a variant of UR Phid and Remora is a match up that I really need to play against plus the deck is just plain fun.

If using Sower would it be a good idea to use Mishra's Factory to slow down smaller men? After pondering anti-aggro solutions some more last night at work I think between Sower and Factory you could really improve the match up against Fish and other aggro decks. The land count would probably have to go up a little bit but I feel there are a few cards that could be cut and I do not think 4 Sower's are necessary but 4 Factory should be included.

I am really late to this thread (and necroing a bit here) but I wanted to say I do not feel 10 proxy tournaments are causing the decline of Vintage. In my opinion Wizards continued abuse of the banned and restricted list is the main thing hurting the format right now. I've seen many players quit because the deck they were playing, which was by no means ruining the game, got its key card or cards restricted. I have seen this happen with Flash players, Worldgorger players,Trinistax players, Gifts players and I even quit for a long time with the insane Scroll/Storm/Ponder/Gush debacle and it really didn't affect my decks (in fact it made one of them better). I honestly do not enjoy the format nearly as much as I did pre-restriction (but I was happy to see Merchant Scroll get the restriction it has needed for a LONG time) and I really feel like it is hopeless to ask for a return to the previous format because WOTC has proven time and time again that they do not really listen to players or pay enough attention to Vintage to know what does/doesnt need restricted.

As for getting more power in the environment, I would love to see some sort of From the Vault thing with the P9, Bazaar, Workshop, Drain, Library, Grim Tutor and Imperial Seal (but we all know that ain't gonna happen). 

Edit: I say something about FtV without realizing the announcement of From the Vault: Exiled considering my clan is The Exiled I have high hopes for this and maybe we will just get some more power infused in the environment (I can dream right?)!

I am working on a playtest gauntlet and I am actually considering Firestorm as an anti-fish strategy, however I do like the idea of Bitterblossom and while it may be slow I think Dominate is worth considering.

I played with Platinum Control before the mass restriction and it had a lot in common with this deck, I've been tweaking your list a little and here is what I would probably play:

//NAME: Remora
        1 Darksteel Colossus
        1 Voltaic Key
        1 Time Vault
        1 Misdirection
        3 Commandeer
        4 Force of Will
        4 Mana Drain
        1 Echoing Truth
        2 Repeal
        3 Control Magic
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Brainstorm
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Time Walk
        1 Tinker
        1 Fact or Fiction
        3 Meditate
        4 Mystic Remora
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Library of Alexandria
        2 Flooded Strand
        2 Polluted Delta
        2 Volcanic Island
        4 Underground Sea
        5 Island
SB:  4 Red Elemental Blast
SB:  4 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  3 Relic of Progenitus
SB:  3 Rack and Ruin
SB:  1 Engineered Explosives

I cut the Ponder for Mystical Tutor because I felt it played better in the deck (you have Remora's at Sorcery speed for U and Mystical Tutor can fetch goodness like Tinker on an opponents extra Meditate turn), went to Control Magic instead of Old Man so I can steal Oath creatures/Tarmogoyf/etc and worked in an Echoing Truth. I also worked an Engineered Explosives in the side to help out with Fish and other match ups. I really like this deck and will probably play it on the side, thanks for sharing your list